Sunday, 31 March 2013

Get Involved

We seem to be well-blessed with writers' clubs in the Nottingham area. Of course, we have a rich literary heritage around here with the likes of D.H. Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe. Whether that has anything to do with it I don't know.

I'm a member of two clubs.

Trowell Writers is a twenty minute walk from my house and takes place in the organiser's living room. Every other Monday we start by reading our latest piece of poetry or prose and then take part in a couple of exercises.

Nottingham Writers' Club meets on the first and third Wednesday of every month at the old Nottingham Mechanics Institute which is now a social club. On the first Wednesday we have a guest speaker, usually an author, journalist or publisher. Our second meeting of the month is where we can bring along our work to read out and get feedback from the other members.

The two clubs have widely differing resources and are run along completely different lines so I get a wide range of benefits from them both. I would strongly encourage anyone who writes to join a club. Writing need not be a lonely occupation. If you can't get to meetings many of them (including the two mentioned above) run associate membership where you get a newsletter and are allowed to enter the in-house competitions. If there are no clubs nearby why not start one? You don't have to be affiliated to any organisation and you can run them to your own agenda. Just get together with some like-minded friends and swap ideas. You won't regret it.

8 comments:

Good to hear that you're still going strong with the writing clubs. As you say, a great place to learn and socialise. I'm still with Nottingham Writers' Studio (shifts permitting) and belong to a small off-shoot fiction group who meet once a month. There are 6 of us in the smaller group and I believe the chapters that I've had critiqued there, are much improved through other writers' observations.

Good for you! I'm jolly well jealous. No groups around here. I tried going to one I saw advertised in a community newsletter, but I was the only one who showed up, and there were no more ads for it after that.

About Me

I have stories published in Take a Break's Fiction Feast, That's Life (Australia), The Weekly News, People's Friend, Yours and The Lincolnshire Echo. I also have a short story published in the charity anthology 100 Stories for Queensland.
I am a member of Trowell Writers' Trust and Nottingham Writers' Club. I have had several first, second and third places in their short story competitions over the last few years. In 2008 I was runner up in the National Association of Writers' Groups annual competition for short stories. In May 2009 I was awarded second place in Writing Magazine short story competition and the entry is available on their website.